Impact of Agriculture on South American Civilizations

The Impact of Agriculture in

South America

Life Before Agriculture

●South American peoples were mainly
hunter-gatherers

○They moved from place to place finding food

●Different regions had different ways of
surviving:

○Amazon: Gathered fruits and nuts, hunted fish

○Andes Mountains: Herded llamas, gathered wild
plants

○Pampas: Followed animal herds

Important Crops That Changed Everything

●Three main crops that changed life:

○Maize (corn)

○Potatoes

○Beans

●These crops grew well in the Andes valleys

○Mild Climate

○Terracing

○Rich Soil

○Adapted Crops

●People could now stay in one place

●They didn't have to move around to find food

Plants and animals change

as we move higher in

elevation.

In which temperature zones do people grow:
- Potatoes (frost/coldorwarm/hot)?
- Bananas (frost/coldorwarm/hot)?

The Pampas Region: A Special Case

●Large grasslands in Patagonia

○Not good for growing crops

○People here raised animals instead:

■Sheep

■Cattle

●They followed the herds as they moved

●This was called pastoralism

How Agriculture Changed Daily Life

●People built permanent homes

●They could store extra food

●Larger groups of people could live together

●Communities grew bigger

●People had more free time for other activities

New Jobs and Skills

●Not everyone had to farm

○People learned special skills:

■Making pottery

■Weaving cloth

■Working with metals

●Different jobs meant different roles in society

○People could trade their items with others

○Communities became more organized

Changes in Society

●More food meant more people could live together

●Communities developed leaders

●Different jobs meant different roles in society

●People worked together more

●Trading between communities increased

Climate and Growing Food

●Different areas grew different foods

●The Andes Mountains:

●Cool weather good for potatoes

●Valleys good for corn

●The Amazon:

●Warm and wet

●Good for many types of plants

Technology and Tools

●New farming tools were invented

●People learned to:

●Save seeds for next year

●Store food for winter

●Build better homes

●Make better containers

Review: Big Changes from Agriculture

●From moving around to staying in one place

●From small groups to larger communities

●From everyone hunting to different jobs

●From basic tools to new technologies

●From simple groups to organized societies